By Rady Ananda

After controversy erupted when the University of Minnesota yanked the opening of Larkin McPhee's new film, Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story, U of M officials gave the go-ahead for the October 3rd screening. The film explores agrochemical runoff and growing dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico.

Molly Priesmeyer of the Twin Cities Daily Planet exposed a conflict of interest between U of Minn. and Big Ag:

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by Stephen Lendman

On September 21, the UN Human Rights Council's independent fact finding Committee issued its report titled, "No Safe Place," assessing "investigat(ions) and report(s) on violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law during" Operation Cast Lead. Its members included:

-- Professor John Dugard, Chairman, former UN Special Human Rights Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine;

-- Norwegian Judge Finn Lynghjem;

-- Chilean attorney Gonzalo Boye;

-- Professor Corte-Real, a forensic body damage evaluator; and

-- solicitor Ms. Raelene Sharp.

On February 21, it held an initial meeting with the Arab League's Secretary-General in Cairo, then entered Gaza the next day through the Rafah crossing. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights organized its six day visit with a wide range of persons, including Cast Lead victims, witnesses, doctors, lawyers, journalists, business people, and members of NGOs, UN agencies and Hamas.

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Von Helman

Most people today are too young to really recall the 1979 American hostage situation in Iran but if they are they usually also can’t help remember how ineffective the Carter administration was in handling it. I personally remember the news reports of one specific rescue mission “Operation Eagle Claw” which went awry when a US military helicopter crashed into a refueling plane in the Middle East desert killing 8 service men.

I also remember Ronald Regan during the 1980 election campaign say that if elected, as president the first order of business was to bomb Iran if the hostages weren’t yet released. Regan said this while doing his best John Wayne impersonation, but the result of that raspy threat as history recorded was that all 52 hostages were released within hours of Ronald Regan taking office.

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Ellen Brown

While local banks are held in check by the new banking czars in Basel, Wall Street’s “shadow banking system” has hardly been curbed by regulators at all; and it is here that the 2008 credit crisis was actually precipitated. The banking system’s credit machine is systemically flawed and needs a radical overhaul.

On September 13, the Bank for International Settlements issued heightened capital requirements that will make lending even more difficult for local banks, which do most of the consumer and small business lending today. The new rules are ostensibly designed to prevent a repeat of the 2008 credit collapse, but they fail to address its real cause, which involves a “shadow” banking system that has largely escaped regulation.

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by Stephen Lendman

Two earlier articles addressed corporate friendly legislation masquerading as pro-consumer. In fact, they'll destroy safe food, empower agribusiness and drug giants, and harm small farmers and consumers. Access them through the following links:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2009/07/hr-2749-agribusiness-empowering-act.html

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/08/legislation-for-greater-agribusiness.html

This article is a brief follow-up on where things now stand, as the Senate tries to circumvent growing public opposition.

On July 29, 2009, the House passed HR 2749: Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 "To amend the (1938 as amended) Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to improve the safety of food in the global market, and for other purposes."

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by Gilad Atzmon

A meeting between Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon ended abruptly yesterday. The dispute followed the Israeli deputy foreign minister’s demand that the meeting’s summary should refer to the notion of ‘two states for two peoples,’ rather than just ‘two states.’

"I wanted that at the very least it will note two states for two peoples. I demanded to know what they meant. One Palestinian state and one bi-national state, or another Palestinian state?" the deputy minister told Ynet. "I made it clear that we were out of the picture if the summary didn’t say two states for two peoples."

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